Ever since his childhood, when his brother gifted him a pigeon, Sulejman Kunocat has been breeding pigeons with great love and devotion.
“I can't live without it. Whoever starts doing this he can't stop, ever. It's a great love. It all started when I was 15. My brother gave me a pigeon and I got another one and that's how it started. Its been 50 years now,” Kunovac told Anadolu Agency.
The only time he left his pigeons was during the war when he had to leave his home town of Ljubusa along with the rest of the town's folk.
“It's indescribable how hard it was for me. I fed them and then I released them. I came back every 10 days to see them and they were still alive. I spent the entire war thinking about them and I couldn't wait for the war to end to get back to them and start breeding pigeons again,” Kunovac said.
He lost his son, wife and father in the war. His son Adnan was 14 when he died. Sulejman remembers him helping feed the pigeons and taking care of them when he was sick or absent.
Sulejman used to have different sorts of pigeons, Backa rollers, English tipplers, Hungarian high fliers, fancy pigeons but today he only has carrier pigeons.
I train them while they're young, you know. I let them fly around for some 10 days – they over rooftops, circle around a bit and get to know the terrain. Then I start taking them to Gorazde, then Rogatica, Sarajevo and so on. They can't go straight to Sarajevo or Zenica, you know. They need to get to know the terrain,” Sulejman Kunovac said. “I took them to Zenica a month ago. They came in about 40 minutes. All 20 of them came back. Before that, I took them to Sarajevo and it took them 12 minutes to get to Ustikolina.”
He noted that this particular breed has an instinct to get back home and to orientate according to air currents.
These birds used to carry messages before the telegraph and the telephone was invented.
The humble pensioner spared no expense in providing his flyers with the best conditions. He invested some €700 in a dovecote with insulation and every month he buys some 100 kg of seeds and supplements for his birds.
He protects them in winter months from the cold, but also from hawks lurking from the forest. They do not fly often in winter months.
Sulejman Kunovac is 65 and his health still keeps him going. He spends several hours with his pigeons every day. After retiring, he came back to his home town of Ljubusa, bringing with him several carrier pigeons.
Sulejman said he will be with his pigeons for as long as he lives, and to make sure his birds do not get left behind after he dies, Sulejman said his son Armin also loves to take care of them.
“I plan to do this for as long as I'm alive. That's how much I love them. I'll only stop if I get sick, God forbid. Fifty years I've been doing this,” Kunovac added.
